Stone Soup by Jan Eliot for December 12, 2021

I think the school would call their moms. And tell them that their children aren’t dress well.

They were doing very similar thing back in the 50s and 60s… though the school dress codes were quite a bit stiffer… (guys too, though to a lesser extent).

My daughter did this in 6th grade. I found out when I surprised her to take her out for lunch.

We girls all used to put our makeup on in homeroom… that poor teacher! We also were hooked on sunflower seeds for a while, poor janitor. We used the bookholder shelf under the seat for the shells. How on earth we survived…

I think girls have been doing this for generations. I was a teenager in the sixties, and certainly rolled my skirt up. I didn’t have to hide it from my mom, though, because she was a seamstress who enjoyed 60s fashions. She made lots of miniskirts at least as short as these.

That’s an old toon!

Girls did this when I was in high school in the late ’60s, except the ones who wore granny dresses.

I’ve seen it all in my 20 years of high school teaching. We finally had to issue a ban on females showing any of the 3 “Bs” in their attire.

I had a girl in middle school like that. She changed on the bus ride home every day!

Hmm, her jacket changed from blue to yellow…

That’s one thing about going to an all-girls boarding school!

A lot of schools today have dress codes. These girls would be sent to the office to cover up. My school has a closet full of donated and lost articles of clothings for wardrobe violaters. That helps with most students who don’t want to get caught dead wearing Goodwill or clothes that aren’t theirs but there are always the hardcore ones who would dress whatever they want. Surprisingly, according to surveys here in Phoenix, most of those hardcore ones eventually drop out of high school and/or lead problematic lives beyond high school. Schools are struggling with how to help those kids. I know it usually begins at home but these are high school kids who are already too old to accept new values or ideology, so middle schools and upper elementary schools are the most ideal time to catch those kids before they hit high school.

I was in high school in the 1980’s. We kids are the reason for the current dress codes, closed campuses and a zero tolerance drug policy. We did whatever we wanted in high school- it was great! Outfits consisting of mini skirts with frilly ankle socks and black pumps, everyone’s bra showing (Madonna was the END ALL then), driving away for lunch, ditching classes and writing our own excuse notes and using Visine in the halls on the way to class…

Never did this and wore a dress or skirt to school every day, no matter how cold. I remember when we didn’t have PE anymore and the girls could wear Hose and didn’t have to worry about getting them off and on without putting runs in them. Ahhhhh, the 60’s…..what a time.

Well they certainly attracted someone’s attention in the last panel!